105-year-old Second World War veteran honoured in Cape Breton

It's not every day you meet a Second World War veteran who is 105-years-old.

Ernie Buist of Sydney, N.S., was among the thousands of Canadian soldiers who landed in Normandy on D-Day.

Less than a month later, in a Canadian attack called Operation Windsor on July 4 and 5, 1944, he suffered an injury that cost him one of his legs.

"They were moving across a field - a corn field - towards the airport, and that's when he was hit by presumably a shell of some sort and he lost his right leg,” explained his son, Ernie Buist Jr.

On Friday, at the Sydney-area nursing home where he lives, Buist was presented with a Quilt of Valour.

"He's my oldest (person) that I've presented a quilt to, for sure. It's a privilege,” said Debra Lalonde-Gyorfi, Quilts of Valour representative for Cape Breton.

105-year-old Second World War veteran Ernie Buist is pictured. (Source: Ryan MacDonald/CTV News Atlantic)

Buist was also honoured by members of Sydney's Branch 12 Royal Canadian Legion, along with area politicians and family members.

"I met Ernie while I was doing the poppy campaign, and the board here (at the nursing home) sent a letter to his son,” explained Ron Upson, a Branch 12 Legion member who helped spearhead Friday’s effort to honour Buist.

Upson added that Buist's community contributions go beyond his wartime service.

"One thing his family did, they owned the property where the (Cape Breton) Regional Hospital is on,” Upson said. “They sold it with the agreement that they put a hospital on that property."

Buist was also a founding member of the Kiwanis Golden K in Sydney in 1984. Despite his injury, he had a long career at the Sydney Steel Plant.

For his family to be in attendance on Friday to see him honoured was a special moment.

"I think it's wonderful that before he passes, he recognizes that people value his service,” Buist Jr. said.

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